Ein Oktopus hat den Mond zerstört

“A octopus has destroyed the moon” — the film’s title emerges casually in a conversation between two students who, while collecting nuts, discuss their disgust at the maggots they encounter. Both are part of an integrative agricultural training program at the August Sander School in Berlin, an institution that offers vocational perspectives to young people with diverse backgrounds and abilities. Returning to a site she previously explored in a photographic series in 2004, Heidrun Holzfeind follows a heterogeneous group of students over the course of a school year, focusing on their everyday life within the institution. Through calm, carefully composed images, the film reveals moments in which belonging, uncertainty and self-assertion take shape — in conversations, gestures and shared situations. Classroom activities, practical work and informal encounters intertwine, creating a layered portrait of a learning environment shaped by negotiation and coexistence. Without commentary or narrative guidance, the film unfolds as an observational study, highlighting both the relationships between students and educators and the individual paths that emerge within a shared structure. The film premiered at DOK Leipzig 2024 in the Young Eyes section, where it was nominated for the Young Eyes Film Award, and was subsequently screened at festivals including Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz and This Human World (Vienna).